Things appeared to be off to a decent start.

The Effingham Lady Hearts played a solid first quarter and held a slim two-point lead on the road Friday night.

But after scoring 12 points in the opening eight minutes, they managed just 14 more over the next 24 minutes.

“We played good enough defense to win, but we couldn’t make a shot after the first quarter,” said EHS coach Jeff Schafer.

The end result was a 46-26 setback at Mahomet-Seymour in an Apollo Conference contest.

Ella Niebrugge scored six points and Saige Althoff added four more as the Lady Hearts owned a 12-10 lead after the first period. But Effingham scored just 2, 5 and 7 points in the next three quarters.

The Lady Bulldogs took advantage, building leads of 21-14 at halftime and 32-19 after three periods.

Niebrugge was the only Effingham player to reach double figures with 11 points.

The Lady Hearts dipped to 7-2 on the season and are now 2-1 in league play. They will return to action Tuesday night with a home game against Charleston.